STS 360 - Issues in Bioethics

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2013/14b: On the Prospect of a “Posthuman Future” Course Abstract. From circumcision and foot binding to matchmaking and public schools, human beings have always sought to shape themselves and their children. The convergence of Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information technology and Cognitive neuroscience (or “NBIC,” according to the National Science Foundation) seems poised to radically transform our capacity to pursue that ancient ambition. The aim of this course is to understand the emerging and increasingly vitriolic debate about the prospect of what observers-some with dread and others with enthusiasm-are calling our “posthuman future.” As sympathetically and critically as possible, we will explore the arguments for and against pursuing such a future, and thereby will begin to articulate our own positions vis-à-vis the debate. We will investigate the competing conceptions of technology, nature, and happiness that are at work on each side of the debate, and we will seek to see how competing conceptions can aggregate to form what might be called distinctive ethical frameworks. Most importantly, we will seek to understand the ethical framework that we find ourselves operating out of when we come to the debate about the technological transformation of our bodies and those of our children. Class discussion will be built around texts from multiple genres, including bioethics, philosophy, and psychology. The only prerequisite is a willingness to read complex arguments carefully.